COMMENTARY
by Jerry A. Madden, TEXAS HOUSE MEMBER Madden is a Republican representing Richardson.
Co-written by state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston; Rep. Pat
Haggerty, R-El Paso; and Rep. Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie.
Texas' probation system is broken. Today, 77,500 probation absconders
are running free, but our state has limited resources to go after them.
That's simply not acceptable. We must find a way to provide real supervision to probationers or a large number of them will inevitably commit more crimes. Texas' weak probation system is putting neighborhoods and families at risk.
In Texas, 3,300 probation officers are supervising 430,000 men and women
on so-called "community supervision." That works out to about 130 cases
per probation officer, of which 116 are active cases.
That is not a manageable situation.
If you're on normal probation in Texas, you basically show up once a
month at a probation office and submit to a urinalysis.
Otherwise, you're on your own.
If it's implemented, a special rider to the state budget that calls for
hiring an additional 350 to 400 probation officers within the next
four or five months would bring the caseload down to 95 active cases per probation officer. Even that would not ensure a high level of supervision, but it's an improvement.
Studies show that long probation terms don't prevent crime and might
even provide disincentives for probationers to go straight, especially
habitual, petty offenders such as thieves and drug users. Offenders need positive incentives to change their bad habits. The current system provides none. To maximize public safety, probationers
must be able to earn their rights back by becoming a responsible citizen
and demonstrating they deserve to leave the system.
That's not how it works now. Instead, a large number of probationers
are returned to prison in the first few years, either for new offenses
or technical violations. After five years of successful probation, people are much less likely to become re-offenders.
These probationers pose much less risk than probationers in the first
few years of their sentence, but they take up just as much time for
the probation officer who has a 130-person case load.
When someone commits a crime, he or she obviously needs the most supervision
in the period immediately afterward. That's where we need to focus
resources. Probation departments like long-termers because they are a reliable source of fees. But that's not a good enough reason to keep the current system. A stronger probation system would
keep more criminals who receive probated sentences from committing
new crimes.
On Tuesday, the Texas Senate approved House Bill 2193, which does exactly
that — it shortens the length of probation for some offenses
to five years but still allows a judge to extend the time up to the full 10 years probation. So if a judge thinks an offender needs supervision, that offender could be supervised under these proposals
just as long as he or she is now.
This bill, which already passed the House, would not change the maximum
probation terms for sex offenses, violent offenses, offenses performed
with a weapon, first- or second -degree felonies or state jail felonies. All that would change is that judges would be required to review cases upon completion of one-half of a probationer's
term, so long as the probationer has fulfilled all probation requirements.
The judge decides whether an offender still requires supervision.
Additionally, this bill would strengthen the processes regarding serious
violent offenders by excluding them from judicial review.
It would prevent a first-degree murderer from being eligible for probation
and keep all serious violent sexual offenses from being eligible for
review.
Instead of sending non-violent people to prison, Texas could closely
monitor them and provide job training, effective drug and alcohol
rehabilitation and mental health treatment using other community resources — a hand up, not a hand out. That way, Texas could concentrate its criminal justice spending on the more dangerous people.
It's more effective to strengthen probation with new money and better
policies. Texas should start by approving HB 2193.
Madden is a Republican representing Richardson.
This was co-written by state Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston;
Rep. Pat Haggerty,
R-El Paso; and
Rep. Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie.
